LesliGirard6 at 02:28, 14 December 2025

2025-12-14T02:28:54Z

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{{Short description|US policemen enforcing federal laws on natives}}
[[Image:Cheyenne Indian policeman.png|thumb|A [[Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes|Southern Cheyenne]] Indian policeman, {{Circa|1889}}]]
'''Indian agency police''' were policemen hired by the [[Federal government of the United States|United States government’s]] [[Indian agent]]s during the late 19th and early 20th century, it was assigned to members of [[Tribe (Native American)|American Indian tribes]]. It was the duty of Indian agency police to enforce federal laws, the laws of the state where their reservation was located, and the terms of the federal treaties with their tribal authority.

The very first Indian police made their appearance in the Great Plains in the 1830s. This was partly due to the relocation of tribes such as the Cherokee into Indian territories.<ref name=":0" />

Many tribes had no recognizable governments and therefore no tribal laws. On these tribes' reservations, the Indian agent hired tribal members to effect law and order according to federal, agency, and treaty rules.

Some tribes, such as the [[Cherokee]], had well-developed systems of tribal laws and tribal courts; the agency police also enforced these laws, and they testified and maintained order in the tribal courts. Since the agency police were federal officers, crimes against them had to be tried in a [[United States district court]].

Indian policemen had a wide range of responsibilities, such as maintaining law and order, protecting agency property, arresting offenders, managing jails, and serving as messengers. They also patrolled reservation boundaries, detaining thieves and enforcing various bans.<ref name=":0" />

They often faced danger, with at least twenty-four officers losing their lives in [[Indian Territory]] (modern day-[[Oklahoma]]) alone between 1876 and 1906. The deadliest incident occurred on December 15, 1890, when six members of Standing Rock's Indian police force were killed while trying to apprehend Sitting Bull. Members of the Indian agency police were also responsible for the death of [[Sitting Bull]] and 12 other American Indians.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Encyclopedia of the Great Plains {{!}} INDIAN POLICE |url=http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.law.022 |access-date=2023-05-23 |website=plainshumanities.unl.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sitting Bull killed by Indian police |url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/sitting-bull-killed-by-indian-police |access-date=2023-05-23 |website=HISTORY |date=16 November 2009 |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Australian native police]]
*[[Indian tribal police]]
*[[Lighthorse (American Indian police)]]
*[[Sitting Bull]]
*[[United States Indian Police]]
*[[Bureau of Indian Affairs Police]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*Bureau of Indian Affairs. ''Indian Law Enforcement History''. Republished at [http://www.tribal-institute.org/download/Indian%20Law%20Enforcement%20History.pdf Tribal Court Clearinghouse] from original published by Bureau of Indian Affairs and archived at [https://web.archive.org/web/20000226013721/http://bialaw.fedworld.gov/history/index.htm Archive.org]
*Ellis, Mark R. "[http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.law.022 Indian Police]", ''Encyclopedia of the Great Plains''. University of Nebraska–Lincoln, 2011.
*[[Frederic Remington|Remington, Frederic]], ''"On the Indian Reservations"''. ''The Century'', Vol. 38, Issue 4, August 1889, pp 536–545.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060103224135/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol1/HTML_files/SES0036.html Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties. Vol. I, Laws (Compiled to December 1, 1902)].

[[Category:History of the American West]]
[[Category:Native American tribal police]]
[[Category:United States Bureau of Indian Affairs personnel| Indian agency police]]

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Indian agency police - Revision history

LesliGirard6 at 02:28, 14 December 2025